A Delicate Balance
by SkyGem
Summary: Spin-off of Bleach-ed-Na-tsu's "Fifty times Namimori Made the Perfect Sanctuary." Lambo meets the newest residents of the Sanctuary, seven-year-old Pennie and her four-year-old brother Yates, and things turn into something of a balancing act for the young lightning guardian. Two-shot. No pairings.
1. First Meeting

_**IMPORTANT NOTE: **_Please do go read Bleach-ed-Na-tsu's fic "50 times Namimori Made the Perfect Sanctuary" before you read this, as this little two-shot is based heavily on the third chapter of that fic. Also, you need to read it because she's an amazing writer. And once you've read that, I hope you enjoy my fic below!

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Lambo looked down at the two children that were sitting beside his big brother on the sofa, practically glued to his side.

The boy, who looked to be about four years old, was watching him with wide, distrustful blue eyes. His pudgy little fingers were twisted in the fabric of Tsuna's t-shirt, and his cheek was pressed against Tsuna's chest.

His sister was on Tsuna's other side, her pretty blue eyes, strangely glossed over in a way that was not natural, staring blindly ahead as she played absently with the rings on Tsuna's fingers.

Tsuna freed his hand from her grip for just as second as he tucked a loose lock of slightly curly red hair behind her ear, causing a shy smile to tug at the corners of her lips. Having lived her first seven years of life with a father who saw her as nothing more than a burden, she still wasn't used to her new guardian's gentle affections.

Turning his attention back to his lightning guardian, Tsuna smiled softly at the infant sound asleep in his arms.

One-year-old Daichi Trovatello was what one would call a bastard child. When his mother had died due to birthing complications, his father had kept him for all of six months before deciding he wasn't worth the money it would take to raise him, and turning him over to the Vongola, to be raised in the Sanctuary.

Tsuna hadn't hesitated in accepting the child as his ward, and was not the least bit surprised when Hayato and Lambo had grown esecially attached to the child.

Although...Lambo was close to all of the Trovatello children, of whom there were six so far. Six foundlings whose families had given Tsuna complete guardianship over the children...eight now, with the two new additions.

The Trovatello were different from the other children who lived at the Sanctuary - the other children still belonged to their families, and would be returning to them once their contracts expired.

But the Trovatellos had nowhere to return to.

So Lambo had taken it upon himself to turn the Vongola into the place they would call home, even if they decided not to join the mafia in the future.

The two children his Tsuna-nii had just brought back were even more broken than the rest of the foundlings - Lambo could see it in the desparation with which they clung onto his nii-sama.

A desparation that was so painfully familiar, Lambo felt his heart ache for them.

Tsuna had done well to gain their trust in the short month they had been with him, but now Lambo had to choose his next steps carefully to not undo all his nii-sama's hard work.

Once upon a time, people would have argued vehemently that Lambo was not the right person for such a delicate task, and the young cow boy would have been quick to agree.

But in the past four years he had been playing the part of big brother to the children of the Sanctuary, Lambo had matured quite a bit, and had perfected his role into something of an art form.

Shifting the soundly sleeping Daichi into one arm, Lambo got up from his seat and approached the three on the couch.

He noticed the girl, Pennie, stiffen immediately at his approach.

"Lambo-sama is going to sit beside you, Pennie-chan," he said, trying to make himself sound deliberately more childish than he had actually been in years. "Is that alright?"

Shifting just the slightest bit closer to Tsuna, she nodded.

Her brother watched Lambo suspiciously from Tsuna's other side.

"Do you like babies, Pennie-chan?" asked Lambo, and the girl perked up slightly in interest.

Smiling shyly in Lambo's general direction, she nodded once, and Lambo felt an answering smile spread across his face.

"Well, I'm holding a baby in my arms," he said, taking her hand gently and bringing it to rest on Daichi's head. "His name is Daichi, and he's one year old. Would you like to hold him?"

Pennie bit her lip, seeming uncertain.

Finally, she nodded, and Lambo shifted Daichi gently into her arms - the kid was a really heavy sleeper, so he didn't need to worry about him waking up.

Holding the boy expertly in her thin arms, Pennie pulled him close and buried her nose in his soft, fine baby hair.

Turning her head in Tsuna's direction, she smiled at the air just above the brunet's right shoulder.

"He smells just like Yates did as a baby," she said in a quiet voice, and Tsuna smiled indulgently, even though she couldn't see it.

Yates, getting curious when he saw his sister's lips form his name, finally pulled away from Tsuna a bit, untangling his fingers from his shirt so that he could use them to sign.

_"What did she say?"_ he asked, and Tsuna repeated his sister's words to him in Japanese sign language.

Suddenly curious, Yates leaned across Tsuna, to try and get a look at the baby, whose head was resting on one of Pennie's shoulders, and was facing towards him.

The infant had a head of very fine, soft black hair, and a sweet, pouty little mouth with a deep cupid's bow on his upper lip. His little button nose was slightly upturned, giving him a very delicate look.

Yates was completely enchanted, never having seen a baby up close.

Reaching out a hand, he poked at Daichi's little fingers, which were curled into a tight little fist as he slept.

Lambo smiled in relief that it had all worked out, and smiled a reassuring smile up at his Tsuna-nii.

And Tsuna returned the smile, full to bursting with pride at the man that his little brother had become.

He could rest easy, knowing that Lambo was around to look after the little lost souls that called the Sanctuary home.

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SkyGem: That's it for this chapter! I hope you all liked? I had lots of fun writing this, because the dynamic between Tsuna, Yates, Pennie, and Lambo (and even Daichi) was very interesting and very delicate, if you know what I mean. Lambo was pretty much walking on a tight rope most of the time, and it was an interesting experience. Anyways, next chapter will be out tomorrow, and it will be a time skip to on year after Pennie and Yates arrived at the Sanctuary, and it's time for their big bro Lambo to leave! So stay tuned my lovelies, and please don't forget to let me know your thoughts on this!


	2. Balancing Act

Eighteen-year-old Lambo sat in the middle of the living room floor, a rather large group of children surrounding him.

It wasn't often that all of them gathered in the same place outside of meal times, but Lambo would be leaving for Italy the next day, and each and every one of the children were feeling really very emotional.

Especially the eight Trovatello children.

In the years since Lambo's nii-sama had started the Sanctuary, Namimori had become home to many young mafia chidlren.

The large majority of these children were living in the Sanctuary on contract - their families paid a pretty sum and signed a document, temporarily turning over guardianship of their children to Vongola Decimo.

And until their contracts ran out, these children would be protected by the Vongola, and also be taught by them in everything ranging from mafia history to self-defense.

The Trovatello, however, were not under contract.

Because every once in a while, there came a Don who wanted to give over their child for good - to have them completely wiped from their family registry. The price for this was much higher than the normal contract, of course.

But once it was paid, the children became Tsuna's for good, and they took on Trovatello as their surname.

Two-year-old Daichi, currently sitting in Lambo's lap, was one of these Trovatellos.

The Sanctuary's youngest resident had been glued to Lambo all day, refusing to let go of him even during dinner time, and getting all watery-eyed whenever anyone mentioned his Lambo-nii's imminent departure.

"Who's going to be our ringleader when you're gone?" Pennie was asking as she fidgeted with her fingers in her lap. In the past year since she and her brother had come to the Sanctuary, she had blossomed beautifully into a confident, and rather impish young girl.

"Yeah!" replied one of the other children. "And who's going to make Daichi stop crying when he gets into a temper tantrum?"

Yates, who had been following the conversation through lip-reading and body language, nodded along.

Clapping once to get everyone's attention, he signed, _"And who will help us with our homework?"_

Letting out a long, weary sigh, Lambo ran a hand through his hair and looked around at the children, meeting each of their eyes as he spoke.

"It's not like you will never see me again," he began, "And even if you didn't, I'm sure you all will be able to get along just fine without me here. You're all very powerful and intelligent. And believe it or not, there _are_ other caregivers here."

Pennie pouted.

"But none of them are like you, Lambo-nii!" she said, crossing her arms.

Lambo felt a warm glow of affection rise up inside him at those words. "Like I said before, it's not like you'll never see me again," he told them. "But I do have to go. Tsuna-nii needs all his guardians, you know. It's amazing enough that he was able to survive without me these past ten years after all."

At this, the children all immediately quieted down, and Lambo knew he had hit a nerve. If there was one other person in this entire world that could compete with Lambo for the kids affections, it was Tsuna.

Sweet, loving, gentle Tsuna-nii, who wasn't able to visit very often, but who made sure to make time for _all_ the children when he did.

Sweet Tsuna-nii who was the only one that never forgot that Lambo himself as also still a child; a child who had forced himself to grow up too fast in order to protect the children under his wing.

And to be completely honest, Lambo had to admit that he was somewhat looking forward to not having the children as his responsibility.

Don't get him wrong, he adored every last one of the kids.

But it would get tiring, having so much responsibilities on one's shoulders (Lambo alwaysh had to wonder just how his Tsuna-nii managed it all the time).

When he finally did get to the Vongola mansion, Lambo really was looking forward to rediscovering the inner child in him - he was looking forward to shedding all that responsibility.

Because once he did get to the Vongola mansion, he would be the baby of the group again, and despite arguing that he was supposed to be an adult now, the other guardians _would_ end up doting on him, just like they always did.

After ten long, long years, Lambo's final countdown was abot to reach zero.

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_**The End**_

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SkyGem: Like the title suggests, it's a delicate balance for Lambo, between being the responsible older brother to the cildren, and being the baby of the group amoung the guardins. Anyways, I really hope you liked this chapter! Please do leave a review on your way out, won't you? Ciao!


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